World Challenge Award

These award requirements were updated on 26 January 2018. The previous award requirements can still be used until 31 January 2019, to allow for transition where necessary.

How to earn your award

1. Choose an aspect of local community life and find out as much as you can about it. You could learn about:

local government

local history

different faiths and beliefs

types of farming/industry found locally

2. Spend a day volunteering with and finding out about a service in your local community:

What are their challenges?

Who relies on this service?

What positive impact could you have on this service in the future?

Services could be homeless shelters, local nature reserves, care homes and food banks.

3. Take part in an activity that reflects upon and explores your own beliefs, attitudes and values (this may or may not include religious beliefs). What values do we share as Scouts? Which Scout value means the most to you?

4. Take part in an activity that explores common beliefs and attitudes towards gender or disability in different societies. You could look at this in the context of music, sport and fashion.

5. Take an active part in an environmental project.

6. Investigate and try to make contact with Scouts in another country. Make sure you and your leader read the International Links Guidance here.

7. Take part in an activity that explores an international issue.

Flexibility

Each young person who participates in the
Programme, including badges and awards, should face a similar degree of
challenge, and requirements can be adapted according to each young
person’s abilities. For more information and practical tips see our
guidance on flexibility

Guidance for leaders

For each of the requirements of the award, guidance and ideas are provided below.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are mentioned, are global goals that people and governments all over the world are trying to achieve to make the world a better place. The World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) has committed to these, and they are reflected in the global elements of our programme. As the National Youth Coordinator from Scouts Canada describes "SDGs are intrinsically linked to all of the values of Scouting, maybe the mission, the promise, maybe the things we say every day, what we do - creating a better world!"

For further exploration of the SDGs, activities and resources are available from Scouts Scotland and Scotdec here.

Choose an aspect of local community life and find out as much as you can about it.

You could be creative in the way that you do this. Scouts could brainstorm topics, issues and services in their community, then vote to work out what is most important to them as a group. They could visit a local community service to gather the experiences and views of different people - this might be the service providers and those that use the service. Or, they could arrange for a local councillor or other community figure to visit the section meeting.

Patrols could make short videos of what they’ve discovered, or put something together to share with local councillors or community leaders. They could each identify one reason why the topic, issue or service is important to themselves and one reason why it’s important to someone else.

Goal 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and Goal 11 (sustainable cities and communities) of the Sustainable Development Goals may provide some inspiration for issues to explore. For example, access to broadband or phone signal in rural areas, affordable housing, or flooding.

Scouts who particularly enjoyed this part of the award, depending on what topic they explored, may like to work towards their Local Knowledge Activity Badge, Farming Activity Badge, Global Issues Activity Badge, or World Faiths Activity Badge.

Spend a day volunteering with and finding out about a service in your local community

Make sure that Scouts are engaged in choosing what kind of service they would like to volunteer with. They could consider what skills they already have that they can contribute, or what skills they can gain from volunteering. The service could be what Scouts have researched for requirement one. It can be anything that supports the local community, for example a food bank, local nature reserve, homeless shelter, care home, day centre, community cafes, city farm, or clubs for the elderly. Opportunities may be available through A Million Hands, for example, Scouts can connect with their local dementia service through the partnership with the Alzheimer’s Society.

Scouts who particularly enjoyed this part of the award may like to work towards their Global Issues Activity Badge, Local Knowledge Activity Badge, or Community Impact Staged Activity Badge, to make a bigger difference in their local, national or international community.

Take part in an activity that reflects upon and explores your own beliefs, attitudes and values

This requirement is about the young person's own beliefs, attitudes and values, rather than learning about other people’s. Remember that Scouting is inclusive of young people and adults of all faiths, humanists, atheists and those without an affirmed faith. It is important that all young people feel included and valued in Scouting and that their beliefs are respected.

Reflective activities may feel like quite a change from typical activities in the section, but it is important to spend time thinking about what it means to be a Scout and to live by our Promise. Useful activities to support this can be found in the Rise to the Challenge, which can be downloaded here.

The World Membership Badge could be a useful way to open discussion about the values of Scouting. The badge represents being part of the world family of Scouting, and all members worldwide will commit to a Scout Promise and Law. The wording of these will vary between different National Scout Organisations, but will all be based on the original, as used by Baden Powell.

In the UK, we have the Fundamentals which capture the core essence of Scouting and underpin everything that we do. These include the Values, which are belief, co-operation, care, respect and integrity. There is a short animation exploring the Fundamentals available here. This may be useful in starting your discussions. Discuss the values with the section: what do they mean to us as individuals and how can we apply them in everyday life?

Scouts who particularly enjoyed this part of the award might like to learn about other beliefs, as in their World Faiths Activity Badge.

Take part in an activity that explores common beliefs and attitudes towards gender or disability in different societies.

For this requirement, Scouts could vote (as a section or patrol) whether they want to look at gender or disability. Then, they could identify another country or another area in the UK, and compare similarities and differences in beliefs and attitudes.

For the topic of gender, Scouts could look at things like gender stereotypes, ability to vote, access to education, access to Scouting, employment, or pay inequality. If they’re can’t decide on a society to compare, they could look at the home country of a celebrity that has moved to the UK, or use a country where they have existing contacts in Scouting. Here are some links that may be useful:

For the topic of disability, if Scouts need somewhere to start, there are some good activities in the A Million Hands resources to introduce the topic.

Scouts could look at how the life experiences of Paralympic athletes from different countries may have differed, or look at access to sport in the UK. They could link up with a local organisation or group supporting individuals with disabilities to access sport, like this climbing charity or these cycling clubs.

Scouts could look at how individuals with disabilities are represented in the fashion industry. Here are some relevant news stories:

There is lots of background information about both topics available as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 5 is to ‘achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’ and Goal 10 is to ‘reduce inequality within and among countries’.

The activity that Scouts take part in could be anything that helps them explore about this topic. For example they could:

Interview someone who has experienced a different society first hand. This could be an Explorer Scout or Scout Network member talking about international experiences through their Explorer Belt or other top awards.

Visit a local organisation who focus on equality or inclusion

Research individually or in a small group, and share what they learnt with the rest of the section.

Scouts who particularly enjoyed this part of the award may like to plan and take action around one of these topics, for their Community Impact Staged Activity Badge.

Take an active part in an environmental project

This project should be something that helps the environment, and could be based around the Scout meeting place, campsite or activity centre, in the community, or a private area. You could link with a local environmental organisation to complete this. It could be something that is completed in one meeting/day or a longer term project.

Contact your local council, local Wildlife Trust or other local environmental organisation to find out if there are any existing or new environmental projects that Scouts could get involved in. For example, some councils will have schemes where community groups can adopt a park or another outdoor space.

Here are some ideas for projects:

Adopt a section of their local canal or river, with the Canal & River Trust. Find out more in the ‘social action on waterways’ resource on the A Million Hands website.

Adopting a local park, nature reserve, beach or other outdoor space.

Create a garden at the Scout meeting place or in their community, to support wildlife. There are lots of ideas on the RSPB website here and advice on creating a bee-friendly garden with advice from Friends of the Earth here.

If you’re near the coast, there may be opportunities to be involved in clearing up a local beach. Find information on the Marine Conservation Society website here.

If you live in an urban area, do you have a city farm or urban farming project that Scouts could get involved with?

Scouts could have a long term effect on their environment by planting trees. Find information and support on the Woodland Trust website here.

Protecting and taking action to help the environment is also embedded within the Sustainable Development Goals, particulary Goal 13, Goal 14 and Goal 15.

Scouts who particularly enjoyed this part of the award may like to work towards their Environmental Conservation, Farming, Forester or Naturalist activity badges, or their Community Impact Staged Activity Badge.

Investigate and try to make contact with Scouts in another Country

Making contact with Scouts in another country can be done a number of ways, for example through international events in the UK or overseas, the internet, pen pals, JOTA JOTI, or linking with groups that are part of British Scouting Overseas or Branches of The Scout Association.

Scouts could use this as an opportunity to ask questions about common beliefs and attitudes towards gender or disability in the country, for requirement four, or to explore an international issues for requirement seven.

Scouts who particularly enjoyed this part of the award might like to work towards their Communicator Activity Badge or International Activity Badge.

Take part in an activity that explores an international issue

Scouts don’t need to go abroad to explore an international issue – there is plenty you can do in the section. Examples of international issues which could be explored include: trade, health, water and sanitation, environment, conflict, refugees, peace, tourism, homelessness, poverty, animal welfare or conservation.

Scouts should be able to show an understanding of the issues involved, and how the issues affect the UK and other countries. There are a number of different activities they could do, for example:

Speak to international Scouts about how the issue affects them. Getting involved in JOTA JOTI can be a good opportunity to do this, or guidance on making international links can be found at scouts.org.uk/intlinks.

Invite a visitor into the section – for example, someone who works or volunteers for an international charity, or someone who has achieved their Scouts of the World Award.

Research individually or in a small group, and share what they learnt with the rest of the section.

Activities from the Refugee Response Resource, which contains information, guidance and activities to help Leaders explore the topic of refugees with their section. Download the resource here.

Scouts who particularly enjoyed this part of the award might like to work towards their Global Issues Activity Badge.

Previous award requirements

These requirements will be discontinued on 31 January 2019.

How to earn your award

Choose an aspect of local community life and find out as much as you can about it. You could learn about:

•local government

•local history

•different faiths and beliefs

•types of farming found locally

Work with people or an organisation from a community. Take the chance to find an issue that your Troop could help with. It should be something that helps people and also helps you grow as a person. Plan and carry out the project with your Troop and others in the community. Then share what you learned from the activity with other people. Talk about how it helped other people and what you will do with the skills and experiences you have gained.

Plan, take an active part in and evaluate a local community service. Doing the service should take you at least six hours (not including planning and evaluating).

Take part in an activity which reflects upon and explores your own beliefs, attitudes and values (this may or may not include religious beliefs).

Take part in an activity that explores different beliefs and attitudes. You could look at fashion, music, sport or disability.

Give several examples of how you have kept your Scout Promise and Scout Laws.

Take an active part in an environmental project.

Investigate and try to make contact with Scouts in another country.

Take part in an activity that explores an international issue.

Flexibility

Each young person who participates in the Programme, including badges and awards, should face a similar degree of challenge, and requirements can be adapted according to each young person’s abilities. For more information and practical tips see our guidance on flexibility

Guidance for Leaders:

Scouts who have particularly enjoyed this Challenge Award may like to try these Activity Badges:

Astronautics

Astronomer

Communicator

Environmental Conservation

Fire Safety

Forester

Fundraising

International

Lifesaver

Local Knowledge

My Faith

Naturalist

Smallholder

World Faiths

World Issues

For some inspiration, read the blog on the World Challenge Awards here.

As well as the additional guidance below, Programmes Online contains lots of activity ideas that you could use to deliver this badge.

Identify an aspect of local community life and find out what you can about itWhen finding out about the local community the project should include some fact finding, a visit to or from the project and some sort of report back. You could be creative in the way that you do this, for example: theme a couple of evenings around a local visit including some follow-up activities; invite someone in to run an evening based around a community theme; get Patrols to make short videos or sketches about what they have learned; or complete a community action project (see below) which links to the community theme learned about for this requirement.

What issues affect you? Find out who you could talk to who can make a differenceScouts should be encouraged to think about issues which affect them within their local community, and which they may have an opportunity to influence. One way of completing this could be to invite a local councillor or other community figure in. Most towns and counties now have youth councils who express young people’s views to local decision making bodies.

Remember that not every young person will be interested in campaigning to make a difference on an issue. Provided they know who they could talk to if they wanted to, they do not have to raise the issue to meet this requirement.

Plan, take an active part in, and evaluate, a local community serviceMake sure that Scouts are engaged in choosing what kind of community service they would like to do, and planning to do it. Activities within the Youth Involvement Toolkit can help you to engage Scouts with this element.

The time may be spent doing a number of different projects or by showing commitment to a single project over a longer period of time. Examples of community service could be running a fund-raising stall or game, delivering leaflets, gardening, helping with activities for younger children. Where possible the community service should link in with the local community life project.

Take part in an activity that demonstrates your understanding of your own faith or beliefsScouting is inclusive of young people and adults of all faiths, humanists, atheists and those without an affirmed faith. It is important that all young people feel included and valued in Scouting and that their beliefs are respected. This requirement is about the young person's own faith or beliefs, rather than learning about other people’s. An activity may include creating a space for young people to reflect on their personal beliefs, values and attitudes; or reflecting on what they need to feel happy and secure; or taking time to reflect and say thank you.

Take part in an activity that explores different beliefs and attitudesWhen getting a Scout to explore how others may have different attitudes to their own any topic can be used. The topics can be as diverse as local cultures, different types of music, football teams, political parties, fashion etc.

The values of Scouting are belief, co-operation, care, respect and integrity. Explore the values of Scouting with the Section, what do they mean and how can we apply them in everyday life? There is a short animation exploring the Fundamentals- the purpose, values and method of Scouting available here. This may be useful in starting your discussions.

Rise to the Challenge is a programme resource to support young people to explore their beliefs, attitudes and values via activities. This resource can be used to support young people to understand and appreciate difference and become more tolerant of opinions and beliefs which may be different than their own. Rise to the Challenge explores beliefs, attitudes and values rather than specific faiths or religions.

The ‘major world faiths’ are widely accepted to include Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Sikhism. However, this is not an exhaustive list and a broader list of more religions can be found via BBC Religion pages, which also includes numerically smaller groups, such as Shinto and Taoism.

A useful interactive resource to support young people to explore world faiths is BBC Bitesize, there are wealth of videos and animations which explore specific elements of different religions eg. What is it like to go Hajj, or what happens at Passover specifically aimed at young people.

There is also the Faith Walk resource, which takes young people around the faith buildings at Gilwell Park and explains their significance.

Give several examples of how you have kept your Scout Promise and Scout LawsWhen asking Scouts to give examples of how they have kept their Scout Promise and Scout Laws, ask them how they think they have done their best, and how they have kept different elements. This doesn’t need to be an in depth analysis of every element of the Promise and Law – a few different examples are fine. You could use activities that explore the meaning of the Promise to complete this requirement, Scouts could explain their understanding to new members in preparation for investitures, they could keep a diary or photo diary, or could do a speed dating style event where they have three minutes to tell someone else how they have kept their Promise and Laws.

Take an active part in an environmental projectThis project should be something that helps the environment, and could be based around the Scout meeting place or activity centre, in the community, or a private area. You could link with a local environmental organisation to complete this.

This environmental project could be linked to your community action project for requirement 3, but does not have to be.

Investigate and try to make contact with Scouts in another CountryMaking contact with Scouts in another country can be done a number of ways, for example through Nights Away in the UK or overseas, the internet, pen pals, Jamboree-on-the-Air (JOTA), Jamboree-on-the-Internet (JOTI), programmes run by WOSM, or linking with groups that are part of British Scouting Overseas or Branches of The Scout Association.

Take part in an activity that explores an international issueExamples of international issues which could be explored include: trade, health, water and sanitation, environment, conflict, refugees, peace, tourism, homelessness, poverty, animal welfare or conservation. Scouts should be able to show an understanding of the issues involved, how the issues affect the UK and other countries, and be able to take some relevant action.

Further support

One topic that Scouts could explore as part of their Award is refugees. The Refugee Response Resource provides information, guidance and activities to help Leaders explore the topic of refugees with their section, developing their understanding and supporting them to plan action. Download the resource here.